You exit a cave. The light is blinding, and you have no idea where you are. You’re surrounded by pine trees. There are wolves lurking nearby, and a city on the horizon. You unsheathe your sword, and keep your senses at the ready. This is just one of the possible experiences when playing Bethesda’s Nov. 11 release, “Skyrim”.
One of the many students planning on getting “Skyrim” is junior Lucas Malimanek. Malimanek said he enjoys the role-playing aspect of the game.
Another student who plans to pick up a copy of “Skyrim” is junior Curi Lestrud.
“I hope it’s a fun game,” Lestrud said. He is most excited about the new physics engine.
“Skyrim” is the fifth installment in the “Elder Scrolls” series. It is the sequel to 2006 Game Of The Year, “Oblivion”.
The “Elder Scrolls” is set in the empire of Tamriel. There are 10 main character types; the Imperials, the Redguards, the Nords and the Bretons (all are human), the High Elves, the Wood Elves and the Dark Elves, and the Orcs, the Argonians and the Khajiits, who are all beast-men.  Malimanek said his favorite character type to play is the Khajiits. Lestrud said there is rumored to be a new character type to play as.
The “Elder Scrolls” was started in 1994, with the game “Arena”. The game did not garner much attention at first, but via word-of-mouth it eventually became popular. The basis of the game has the emperor being kidnapped, and his right-hand man impersonates him. The player must free the emperor and restore peace.
The second game in the series was “The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall”. Players are sent by the emperor to the city of Daggerfall on a mission to deliver a letter. The game takes many twists and turns, and the player will end up the hero of Tamriel.
The third installment of the series is “The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind”. In this game, the player is a prisoner who is freed to help the cursed land of Morrowind. There is a blight in the land. The blight is a kind of plague. Players are put into the part of the investigator. The player has to figure out what is causing the blight, then stop it.
The “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion” garnered much more attention than the previous games. The game received several game-of-the-year awards. The premises of the game has the player, again, playing a freed prisoner who is let loose to save the world. The player witnesses the death of the emperor and is entrusted with the amulet of kings. The amulet can only be worn by a royal heir. The player then sets out to find the emperor’s lost heir. After finding the heir, and uncovering a plot on the royalty of Tamriel, the player must defeat a group of people trying to summon evil into the world. Lestrud said that he enjoyed fighting in the arena most in Oblivion.
“It’s a pretty unique game,” said Lestrud.
The “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” is set in the country Skyrim, which is home of the Nords. When asked what new addition he was most excited about, Malimanek simply replied, “Dragons”. You are a Dragonborn, one of the chosen few who can defeat the dragons who are assaulting the lands.
When man first landed in Tamriel, they landed in Skyrim. There were already Elves inhabiting the land. Man decided to take the land.
This has similarities to the Europeans landing in America. There are more parallels in Skyrim to real life. There is racism, and many other problems similar to what we face in our lives in the game that are addressed.
There is unrest in Tamriel. The Empire has no emperor, and many nations are seceding. During this political unrest, the dragons reawaken. It is your job to take care of Skyrim’s pest problem.
The game is totally open world, and you are free to do what ever you want.
Players can completely customize their characters, enchant their weapons, cast spells and fight with many different weapon types.
There was an entire language invented for this game, the language of the dragons. As the character progresses, the character will slowly learn to speak the dragon language.
The game is in an RPG format. Characters progress, or “levels up” and become more powerful and able to do more throughout the world.
There are 18 skills in “Skyrim”. As players make progress in their skills, they can do more throughout the world. There are areas which are not accessible early on that become accessible later.
“Skyrim” is reported to have some advanced Artificial Intelligence. If the player is out hunting and kills a wolf, that’s not the end of the story. Its pack will come after the player. There are many encounters like this in the game.
There are more than 60 hours of game play in “Skyrim”. The world even has its own literature. There are books of poems. There are religious books, history books, and books of all sorts.
The choices a player makes in the game can have vast consequences later on. If they steal from a food vendor, they may become an outlaw locally. Eventually, they will become more wanted, and will be caught by the guards, which are the game’s police force. They will then have to pay a fine or go to jail.
The team in charge of developing “Skyrim” created a new game engine. This allows the player to interact with the environment and other characters in the game in a new way. For instance, if a player goes up to an in-game character and speaks with them, the character will move around and do their daily tasks as you speak with them, instead of standing completely still. This is entirely new to the “Elder Scrolls” series.
The release of “Skyrim” is set to break records. The game is garnering as much excitement as other blockbuster releases such as “Modern Warfare 3”. On Nov. 11, you will get your chance to delve into this new world and explore the depths of it mysteries.